When Li Yu arrived at Tianjin Port, he bought a newspaper. Within more than ten days of his journey, Sweden had begun to publish the second edition of "Fractals and Chaos".
The sales volume is really good. Almost all universities, scientific research institutions, and scientific researchers have purchased this book, and even various humanities and social science organizations, as well as ordinary scholars are vying to read it.
Suddenly, half of Europe actually made "Luoyang paper expensive".
This is inseparable from the propaganda and terminology of publishing houses and media:
"A mathematics book that everyone can read, allowing you to peep into the mysteries of the world like a top mathematician!"
"Breaking news, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway once again awarded Li Yu the gold medal in mathematics, which symbolizes the highest honor, after the Nobel Prize."
“The most powerful mathematical theory in the new century was born!”
Each and every gimmick is really sufficient. It’s only the third year of the new century, isn’t it?
However, the King's award and the fact that the prize money is equivalent to the Nobel Prize have indeed attracted strong attention from many people. In addition, newspapers and media have done a lot of publicity on the first page, and now it has completely exploded sales.
Of course Zhan Tianyou knew that the newspaper was talking about Li Yu and said with a smile: "You also said that it was all a false name given to you by the newspaper. There is no real person under the famous name. You can't bribe the media across Europe to brag about it. Look at this again.
A "Declaration"."
Li Yu took it over and took a look. The front page of the declaration was an article written by Shi Liangcai:
"The 'carp effect' is overturning Europe, from our proud Chinese Li Yu!"
Not only is the title eye-catching, but there are thousands of words of editorial written below.
Li Yu called him a good guy, he is indeed a media boss.
Back at the house, Uncle Wang was very excited to see Li Yu coming back: "Master, oh yes, yes, sir, you are back again!"
Li Yu smiled and said, "Why did you say 'again'?"
"Why don't you tell me? Fortunately, the time is short this time," Uncle Wang said, "Hurry up and give me your luggage!"
Zhao Qian and Fengling were equally happy to see Li Yu. Fengling was the quickest to say: "Sir, you are back! You don't know that the stinky young man Lin Binghua was caught by the censor of the city and has been dismissed now."
Got an official position."
"Oh? Isn't there someone covering his back?" Li Yu asked doubtfully.
"That's not what you said! But I didn't expect that Balon, the young master of Ronglu Middle Hall, would no longer protect him this time. He had offended the censor of the city before, but this time he was directly defeated by Yiben."
Zhao Qian also said: "Also, sir, a creditor came to Balong some time ago. Only then did everyone know that he lost 800,000 silver in his house. He was trying to make money here and there, but he went to the casino again.
If he won it back, he would get hundreds of thousands more taels. If it weren't for the sake of Rong Zhongtang, he would have become a lonely ghost somewhere."
Li Yu secretly laughed, this Young Master Balong is indeed a playboy through and through, he panics when encountering trouble.
Although it stands to reason that if a banknote is lost, it will no longer be reported as lost, and the money will be considered lost. But if he told Ronglu about the matter early, with Ronglu's influence, he could let the bank sort out the banknotes again, and then reissue all the banknotes to him.
New special banknotes, the bank therefore has to refund some of them.
It's just that doing this is not only troublesome, but also equivalent to completely exposing Ronglu's deposits in Si Daheng. A little improper operation may leak the news, and the imperial censor may not be able to explain it.
Although everyone is greedy, they can't let the matter be exposed in broad daylight.
But for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, Ronglu might take the risk and give it a try.
But now Balon was in a panic and took a wrong turn. He was completely screwed. The bank's time limit had long passed. He couldn't get back the 800,000 taels, so he borrowed hundreds of thousands more taels.
Fengling said cheerfully: "Sir, it's a pity that you didn't hear it. A few days ago, Mr. Ronglu chased Balong all over the yard with a stick, yelling at the sky and the earth. He didn't stop until Mr. Ronglu was so angry that he fell ill.
The bad breath in my heart has finally come out!"
Li Yu is also a little funny, this guy Balon really succeeds more than fails.
It was not a short time since he left. Li Yu gave money to Uncle Wang, Zhao Qian and Fengling, and Fengling went to cook happily.
At least they haven't been idle during this time, and at least their cooking skills have improved.
The next day, Li Yuxian returned to the Capital University to report.
What he does as a student is simply freer than some students of the fifth-rank official in the Shixueguan.
However, it really gave the school a good face. Principal Zhang Baixi and another minister of management and education, Rong Qing, had read the newspapers, learned about Li Yu's deeds, and praised him greatly.
Zhang Baixi said directly: "In the future, just do what you can, and the university will definitely open the door for you!"
Although Li Yu had heard this, he still said: "Thank you principal, I won't fail in the exams I should take."
Zhang Baixi said: "I finally understand what Professor Ding Hailiang said to me. Our exam is indeed too easy for you. It's just that the university has no experience in organizing graduation exams. Otherwise, I think we can arrange one for you."
.”
Li Yu smiled and said, "There's no need to worry, you don't have to do too much for me."
Zhang Baixi asked another more practical question: "How do you think we can train more outstanding students like you?"
Education is a very difficult topic. Li Yu couldn't think of any good solution for a while. He thought for a while and said: "Perhaps we can arrange some challenging awards, such as who can be the first to understand advanced mathematics in Western universities."
Textbooks, physics textbooks, and if they can answer their exam questions correctly, they will be rewarded accordingly.”
"Good idea," Zhang Baixi nodded, "You have inspired many students, and they are already eager to challenge difficult subjects such as mathematics and physics. I am really happy about this phenomenon, but I am well aware of our current teaching team and teaching model.
It is still only in its initial stage, and I am afraid that it will not be able to cultivate a good number of students and provide talented people for the imperial court."
Li Yu said: "Principal, don't worry, once you are interested, you will be the best teacher."
Zhang Baixi said: "I hope so."
Today there is a psychology class taught by Hattori Unokichi. Li Yu went to finish the class first, and his classmates immediately surrounded him:
"Brother Li Yu, we have all read the newspaper. You are so powerful!"
"What are you talking about? From now on, you will be called Great God Li Yu!"
"What is Sweden like? Is it fun?"
"I heard that the King of Sweden personally awarded you the award. I'm so envious. I will never be able to do this again!"
"Let everyone read the book you wrote. Everyone will be curious if you can win such a big prize!"
"..."
Li Yu was asked directly and couldn't speak. He could only answer a few questions: "As long as you study hard, the university will definitely arrange for you to study abroad in the future, but the prerequisite must be solid homework, otherwise it will be lost if you go out."
The face of our university. As for the book "Fractals and Chaos", I will find a teaching organization to print dozens of copies and distribute them to everyone for common reference."
If someone can understand it even within two or three years, it will be a big deal.
Feng Zuxun, who majored in mathematics, was particularly excited: "Brother Li Yu, I will definitely read your writings carefully!"
He is indeed the most promising among them.
After everyone dispersed, Feng Zuxun even copied a question from nowhere and asked Li Yu to answer it.
"I know that it is very difficult to understand the books that won the mathematics award. Now I have to step by step and be down-to-earth. I don't want to be a daydreamer. During this time, I read some English mathematics textbooks and tried to do a lot of questions myself.
But when I encounter some difficult problems, I have no idea. For example, this geometry problem has been bothering me for several days, so I can only seek the solution from Brother Li Yu."
Li Yu said happily: "No problem, Brother Feng, if you have any questions, just come to me and I will take a look."
He took the question copied by Feng Zuxun. It was a solid geometry question, roughly equivalent to the difficulty of the 19th major question in mathematics of the college entrance examination.
For them, geometry is indeed easier to get started with.
Although it cannot be said that it is a particularly difficult topic, in just two or three months, Feng Zuxun has mastered it to this point. It is really admirable and he must have put in a lot of effort.
The question was not difficult for Li Yu. He quickly solved it for him and then explained it.
Feng Zuxun was so impressed that he said: "I have been studying this question for three days and three nights but I still have no clue. You can actually solve it just by looking at it. The gap is so big."
Li Yu said: "I have been studying mathematics for more than ten years. How long are you? To be honest, you are already very fast."
Feng Zuxun's spirit was lifted: "Thank you, Brother Li Yu, for your guidance."
"Hey! It doesn't matter if you give me advice or not. We are all classmates and should help each other."
After finishing the class by himself, and then taking advantage of the opportunity to teach Guangxu, Li Yu gave him his pocket watch.
Guangxu didn't know much about Li Yu's recent affairs, but he generally knew that the King of Sweden had received him, so he asked him carefully about Sweden and the Nobel Prize.
Guangxu was fascinated; "If I could personally govern, I would definitely set up such a sensational award."
However, just when his ambition was high, he suddenly felt disappointed again when he saw the hands on the pocket watch in his hand clicking.
Every time Li Yu gave lessons to Guangxu, Cixi must have known about it.
Cixi was very well-informed. He said to Ronglu who was next to him: "I heard that the king of Sweden awarded Li Yu 150,000 Swiss money at once. How much money is it in total?"
Ronglu was already in bad health. He coughed twice and said, "I have asked a foreigner's bank. 150,000 Swiss kronor is almost more than 20,000 taels of silver."
"Twenty thousand taels?" Cixi asked in surprise, "Why so much money? What did Li Yu do to deserve so much money?"
Ronglu said: "When I returned to the Queen Mother, I only knew that he wrote a book on Western mathematics, and then relied on this book to win the mathematics prize established by the King of Sweden. As for whether it was worth so much silver, I didn't know."
"Mathematics?" Cixi asked.
"Yes, Queen Mother, oh, it's what we call arithmetic." Ronglu explained.
"How many foreigners have to set up prizes? Such a thing? It's really confusing!" Cixi's little mind couldn't understand this at all.
However, Rong Lu obviously couldn't explain it clearly, so he had to say: "I really don't see any use for it, maybe it is useful for foreigners?"
"It's useful to them? Doesn't it mean it's useful to them? Otherwise, foreigners are so powerful." Cixi waved her hand, "Forget it, it doesn't matter so much. Since the king of Sweden can reward people from our own country so much money,
The Qing Dynasty cannot lose its face, and we should also reward him."
Cixi wanted to save face, and Ronglu certainly understood that, but the final decision had to be left to the Queen Mother, so he asked: "How much does the Queen Mother think the reward should be?"
"It can't be less than the King of Sweden." Cixi said resolutely.
Ronglu wondered: "But with so much cash, the Ministry of Accounts will probably feel nervous."
Cixi then thought about it and felt that it was too much, "It's really not appropriate to reward so many at once. What should I do?"
Cixi didn't want to give more money, but also didn't want to lose face, so she was immediately caught in a dilemma.
Ronglu's value was reflected at this time. He suddenly thought and said: "We can reward less money, but there are good things in the palace! The queen mother can choose a few calligraphy and paintings to reward him. After all, she is bringing the imperial court with her."
The total amount of honors will never be less than 20,000 taels of silver."
Cixi agreed: "You still have a lively mind!" She turned her head and said to Li Lianying: "Little Plum, do we have any paintings that we can reward?"
There are tens of thousands of paintings and calligraphy in the palace, which belong to various palaces and are stored in the palace. The eunuchs are most familiar with them.
Li Lianying said: "Old Buddha, which painter do you want to appreciate the paintings and calligraphy of which dynasty?"
Cixi said: "If you choose a few famous Southern Song Dynasty writers, they must be included in Emperor Qianlong's "Shiqu Baoji"."
"Shiqu Baoji" is a catalog compiled by Emperor Qianlong that contains the precious collections in the palace. It contains tens of thousands of items in total, and almost every item is a top-notch national treasure.
It is known that Qianlong loved calligraphy and painting very much, so there are more than 7,000 pieces of calligraphy and painting alone.
"Southern Song Dynasty..." Li Lianying thought for a moment, "Prince Gong's Mansion just sent back two paintings and calligraphy from the Southern Song Dynasty, one is "Horse Washing" by Zhao Mengfu, and the other is "Six Dragons" by Chen Long, one dragon and one horse.
, the spirit of the dragon and horse! Besides, only the imperial court can reward dragons, so Li Yu is definitely a great reward."
Cixi said: "Very good, thanks to you two! Just do it like this. Just reward him with 5,000 taels of silver, plus two paintings and calligraphy from the Southern Song Dynasty. Then write a good reward in the imperial edict, and leave it to him for three lifetimes."
blessing."
The eunuch came directly to Li Yu's house with Yi's decree: "Li Yu accepted the decree! Now I heard that Li Yu is excellent in both character and learning, has promoted the prestige of our country, and shocked the West. He is really a capable person in scholarship. I am now giving you five thousand taels of silver. Zhao Mengfu's "Xi Xi"
"Horse Picture" and two paintings and calligraphy of Chen Long's "Six Dragon Pictures". I hope that I will live up to the imperial court's kindness and make great achievements again!"
Li Yu was stunned when he heard the imperial edict. Of course, 5,000 taels of silver did not shock him.
The key is that those two paintings are so valuable!
The history of these two paintings is quite tortuous. According to history, during the Republic of China, they were sold to the great Japanese antique dealer Yamanaka Teijiro by the chief steward of Prince Gong's Mansion. Yamanaka Tetsujiro then sold them to the Japanese Fujita family, and then entered the Fujita Museum of Art.
However, after 2017, the Fujita Museum of Art auctioned these two paintings at Christie's in New York because it could not afford the air conditioning bills.
"Horse Washing Picture" was hammered at US$4.5 million (approximately 30 million RMB); "Six Dragons Picture" was hammered at a sky-high price of US$43.5 million (approximately 300 million RMB).
Later, "Horse Washing Picture" appeared again at the Hong Kong auction in 2022. Although it was eventually withdrawn, the estimate has reached more than 70 million Hong Kong dollars (63 million RMB).
Li Yuhan has come down, and now he is really afraid that someone will steal it!
However, to the Qing court, they were just two of the seven thousand "Shiqu Baoji". Even when the "Shiqu Baoji" included the "Horse Washing Picture", it wrote: "Zhao Mengfu is second to none", that is, It is not a superior work by Zhao Mengfu.
In addition, Cixi didn’t understand, so she just gave up rewards. How could she lose face? This was the most indispensable thing in the Qing palace!